ISRAEL IN

IN

O praise our great and gracious Lord!

And call upon His name ;

To strains of joy tune every chord,
His mighty acts proclaim.
Tell how He led His chosen race
To Canaan's promised land;
Tell how His covenant of grace
Unchanged shall ever stand.

We, too, have manna from above,
The bread that came from Heaven;
To us the same kind hand of love

Has living waters given;

A Rock have we, from whence the spring In rich abundance flows;

The Rock is Christ, our Priest, our King, Who life and health bestows.

O Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter : therefore the name of it was called Marah.

And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet:

There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees and they encamped there by the waters.

And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second

month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: and the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: and what are we, that ye murmur against us?

And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread

to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.

And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the LORD: for he hath heard your murmurings. And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.

And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children cf Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was.

And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.

And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.

And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding

they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.

And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it: but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.

And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

So the people rested on the seventh day.

And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the

wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.

As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said. unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?

And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone

me.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?

Question.-Why were the bitter waters called Marah?

Answer.-It is a Hebrew word meaning bitterness. There are now some traces of fountains at this place. There is no tree or shrub now known which will make bitter water sweet; the effect produced, therefore, by the tree shown to Moses was no doubt miraculous.

Q.-As Elim is mentioned for its fountains and trees, are we not to understand that the country through which the Israelites passed was not all a desert?

4.-Elim is at this day a beautiful valley, with tamarisk and other shrubs and palm trees. The Egyptians frequently came into this land, and worked copper mines some distance beyond Elim. They dug wells along the route, some of which were of use to the Israelites. Those at Elim were perhaps some of those so dug.

Q-It was promised that the people should eat bread. How was that fulfilled?

A.-The words "bread" and "meat" are frequently used for food generally.

Q-How were the promises that there should be flesh at night and bread in the morning ful filled?

A.-At night there were an immense number of quails, small birds. It is not uncommon for large flocks of quails to cross the sea into Arabia, and to be so wearied with their flight that they can be easily taken; but the number necessary to feed two millions of people must have been much larger than was known at any other time. The bread rained from heaven was the "manna,' which was left on the ground after the dew in the morning. "Manna" is generally translated as an exclamation or question, "What is this?" and in that sense it would express the surprise of the Israelites. But it may mean Is it manna?" A substance similar in appearance was known to the Egyptians, and no doubt to the Israelites, and is now known to the Arabians, but it comes from the juice of the tamarisk tree, which hardens into small whitish grains. The Arabs boil it and strain it, and then eat it as they do honey, which it somewhat resembles in flavour. A similar juice is given by the leaves of the mulberry tree, and it is used as medicine. But the manna of the Israelites did not come from the leaves of any shrub or tree, but was found on the ground after the heavy dew. It appeared like small seeds of a whitish grey colour. It is said farther on that the people ate manna for forty years. We need not understand that it was their only food, for they had flocks and herds; but when other food was scarce, there was always a miraculous supply of manna.